


We Are The Greatest Love Story (The World Had Ever Seen)

by evepolastri



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: B99 Summer 2019 Fic Exchange, But mostly fluff, M/M, a bit of homophobia, beginning of relationship, early life of Kevin and raymond, strangers to boyfriends to fiancés to husbands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 09:01:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19373509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evepolastri/pseuds/evepolastri
Summary: the night they meet his life changes forever and he’d never go back to beforeorhow the story of Kevin and Raymond found its startb99 summer fic exchange





	We Are The Greatest Love Story (The World Had Ever Seen)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dancezwithwolvez](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dancezwithwolvez/gifts).



For Raymond Jacob Holt it’s never been a point of discussion. Grass is green, water is wet, he is gay. 

Even by the age of five he knew that there are things that can change, like the weather or his opinion on the usefulness of macaroni infographics, and that there are things that are simply unchangeable, like his skin color. 

Or his sexuality. 

They are just as much part of his life as his lively sister and mother. 

Ray was raised by two very loving parents. 

One of them set to later become the Federal Appeals Justice of the 9th Circuit, the other working two jobs to keep both his kids and his wife fed and one night shot by a police officer and dearly missed to this day. 

And the main reason he wanted to be a police officer. To change the world for the better for the young Raymond’s of the world, who then won’t have to grow up without a father.

He never had an issue with being out and proud. Not in school, nor in college, nor as a black gay man working in the police force.

* * *

For Kevin M. Cozner on the other hand, it has always been anything else but easygoing. 

Born into a conservative family with an older, picture perfect brother (who by the time Kevin and Raymond are destined to meet has a long term girlfriend and one child on the way and who is about to graduate medical school by the time Kevin starts college) who, from the beginning, put expectations on him he always knew he would never be able to fulfill. 

It has always been “when do you bring your _girl_ friend home, why don’t you have a girlfriend this, why don’t you have a girlfriend that, when do I get grandkids?” And it’s never been “as long as you’re happy we’re happy so go do your thing and be yourself because we will accept and love you for exactly who you are”. 

His parents always pointed out men holding hands or sharing a kiss with clear disgust. 

And the rejection, even if it was not intentionally directed at him, hurt. 

From that point onward he thought of himself as exceptionally abnormal and disgusting for wanting to kiss the most popular boy instead of pining after the most popular girl in his school. 

As a monster. 

An abomination.

* * *

And then they met. 

And suddenly Kevin knew that everything could be okay if he just allowed himself to be happy for a second and that he is, in fact, exceptionally normal. Suddenly the world revolved around Kevin and Raymond. And their first shared kiss stopped the world from rotating on its axis for an eternity. 

Or a second. 

But it felt like forever. 

It was a Tuesday evening in a bar. Kevin just ordered his second beverage, wallowing in his misery after his second day as junior professor in a small college upstate. 

The students loved him, he is more than sure about that, but still, something was missing. 

He hated himself for not being able to _be_ himself and he hated himself for being himself. 

And then Raymond entered the bar and swept him off his feet with his cleverly constructed word plays and his deadpan humor and his straightforwardness and honesty. 

And confidence. 

It was like him being there allowed Kevin to be himself (even for just a moment) and all of a sudden this Tuesday night didn’t seem too terrible anymore. 

And so, did the next two months, they started meeting every Tuesday night. And then every Tuesday and Wednesday night. 

And then every night. 

Until his then boyfriend had to go back to New York to start his job at the NYPD. 

Kevin all of a sudden could not stand to be apart from Raymond for longer times anymore and he could not take waiting and waiting and _waiting and waiting_ and not being able to do something about these feelings because he couldn’t afford to lose his job. 

His first real job. 

So one drunken night he bought Gertie. And instead of waiting, impatiently, he took ~~his~~ their new car, their freedom, to New York City and knocked on his boyfriend’s door. 

And then kissed him passionately. 

Deep and desperate. 

Full of love. 

With giggling and clashing teeth. 

Wild and messy. 

(And if one of them would have been wearing lipstick it would’ve been smeared all over the other’s face.)

And the question of “Kevin, what are you doing here?”, only answered by more kisses. 

After that, every weekend spent together in a tiny New York City apartment. 

Until Kevin got offered a position at the Columbia University. He didn’t have to think twice about it before he accepted. 

He packed his things the same day and moved the following weekend. 

That’s how they moved in together. First into Raymond’s way too small one bedroom apartment where they shared a twin mattress, a pillow and a blanket. One bedroom, one bathroom, one kitchen that shouldn’t be allowed to be called a kitchen. 

Until they both got promoted and decided to invest into a house right at the edge of the city. 

Kevin got accepted into Raymond’s family with open arms whereas the other way around it was quite the process to say the least. 

Because Raymond is the exact opposite of what Kevin’s family expected him to be. 

Black. 

Working in the police force. 

A man. 

Gay. 

A black gay man working in the police force that turned their son gay as well. 

Because they expected Raymond Jacob Holt to be a her. 

But they somehow make it work. 

Only visiting around Thanksgiving and Christmas time. Only for a few hours. Bearing gifts and listening to unbearable comments. 

They make it an adventure. 

Even though Kevin dreaded the visits in the beginning they came with a long and silent drive up the coast to buy a specific kind of pecan pie he knew his parents hate. 

But he loves the trip. 

And trips without a purpose are insane. 

Right?

And it makes the offhand comments and disgusted looks bearable. Makes awkward dinners endurable. 

Because Kevin knows that Raymond didn’t turn him gay. 

He’s always been it. 

And it’s okay. 

It’ll always be him and Raymond against the world. 

And Cheddar, the lost little puppy they eventually adopted together.

(But all of this only comes second to the night Raymond proposed to him and to the day they got married.

The day he finally allowed himself to be himself. 

Forever.)


End file.
